Unprecedented high catecholamine production causing hair pigmentation after urinary excretion in red deer.

Unprecedented high catecholamine production causing hair pigmentation after urinary excretion in red deer. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2018 Nov 09;: Authors: Galván I, Solano F, Zougagh M, de Andrés F, Murtada K, Ríos Á, de la Peña E, Carranza J Abstract Hormones have not been found in concentrations of orders of magnitude higher than nanograms per milliliter. Here, we report urine concentrations of a catecholamine (norepinephrine) ranging from 0.05 to 0.5 g/l, and concentrations of its metabolite DL-3,4-dihydroxyphenyl glycol (DOPEG) ranging from 1.0 to 44.5 g/l, in wild male red deer Cervus elaphus hispanicus after LC-MS analyses. The dark ventral patch of male red deer, a recently described sexually selected signal, contains high amounts of DOPEG (0.9-266.9 mg/l) stuck in the hairs, while DOPEG is not present in non-darkened hair. The formation of this dark patch is explained by the chemical structure of DOPEG, which is a catecholamine-derived o-diphenol susceptible to be oxidized by air and form allomelanins, nitrogen-free pigments similar to cutaneous melanins; by its high concentration in urine; and by the urine spraying behavior of red deer by which urine is spread through the ventral body area. Accordingly, the size of the dark ventral patch was positively correlated with the concentration of DOPEG in urine, which was in turn correlated with DOPEG absorbed in ventral hair. These findings represent catecholamine concentrations ...
Source: Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences : CMLS - Category: Cytology Authors: Tags: Cell Mol Life Sci Source Type: research